


Something Wicked This Way Comes

by orphanerprime



Category: Homestuck
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angels, Cronus Ampora - Freeform, Homestuck - Freeform, Land of Wrath and Angels, Magic, Other, Pre-Scratch, Violence, lord english - Freeform
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-08-06
Updated: 2014-08-06
Packaged: 2018-02-12 01:16:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 917
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2090238
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphanerprime/pseuds/orphanerprime
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Cronus has been taught the ways of the Angels. He has heard their Prophesies and has decided to fulfill the role as their god. But even gods have to fall...</p>
            </blockquote>





	Something Wicked This Way Comes

Searing light again, and that thing growls. He ducks behind a ruined wall, broken marble digging into his shoulder. His heavy curls hang in his face, disheveled and burnt. He’s gasping for air, the smoke from the battle irritating his gills. His wand thrums in his hand, pulsing. It’s hungry, this powerful thing. The angels uncovered it in the tomb of the Olde King. He’d dug and clawed his way into the tomb underneath the cathedral floor, ripping marble blocks and inlaid gold from the ground. It took him weeks to dig it out by hand. But he’d passed the test. 

He calms, letting his senses hone in on his opponent. It is shuffling behind him, only feet away from his hiding place. The battleground is littered with pillars and statues. Busts and builds of a species long since extinct, extinguished in its prime. The angels whispered stories of their piety. And their greed. They had worshiped the angels, these haunting creatures, creatures so much like the things that littered the bottom of the ocean, gliding along the murky depths. 

He was afraid of them at first. Their otherness startled him, churning his stomach with their whispering silence. Then he listened to their stories. Their prophecies. The man that would come to save the universe from its gory demise. He would bring white fire and rain terrible hope down upon the demon. The Destroyer. Lord English. He would kill the beast, ruling with a gracious hand. He would raze all that the demon had built and start anew. 

Cronus had heard the tale and so desperately hoped it was him. Otherwise, all of his work would have been for naught. 

The beast shuffles somewhere behind him, and Cronus tenses. His fins flare, trying to pick up every movement. His wand pulses again, and he can hear the angels cheer him on in their strange papery voices. He takes a breath, nerves returning to their steely state. He had underestimated the green nightmare. He would have to tread as if on glass now. 

He tenses, preparing to run to the next column over. The thing snarls off over in the distance, and, fleetfooted, he sprints silently down the row.

“YOU KNOW. YOU’RE A COWARD. FISH BOY. WHEN I’M FINISHED WITH YOU. YOU WILL BEG FOR MERCY. AND. I WILL REND YOU INTO RIBBONS.” It snuffles out a steaming breath. Luckily, after Cronus had gotten his wits together after the first few strikes, he had landed a blow. His wand, it seems, was more powerful that his adversary’s. Of course, good usually does tend to triumph over evil. The thing had been wounded quite badly, limping and spurting bright scarlet across the marble floor.

Cronus peeks around the corner, watching in uneasy silence as the beast passes behind a column, his coattails dragging behind him, splattered with a mixture of dust and his vibrant blood. Cronus darts again, trying to gain the upper hand. He watches as Lord English halts, tilting his skull-like head and sniffing at the air. He growls, a deep rumbling emanating from his throat. Cronus watches carefully, trying to pinpoint the best moment to strike. 

The beast’s head jerks and with a harsh growl, glares at Cronus with burning hatred in his eyes. He pulls back, golden wand glowing like magma, and fires. The shot hits its mark and Cronus screams, head on fire as light sears his eyes and the force of the blast nearly knocks his horns from his head. He collapses, dropping to the ground. Tears stream from his blinded eyes and he groans, flipping on his stomach, trying to worm away from the thudding, thunderous steps of English. 

A great green hand wraps around his neck, and Cronus is deafened by the laughter pouring from the demons maw as he is lifted into the air. English leans forward, and with rotting breath, licks the violet blood spilling from Cronus’ head wound. He blinks hard, trying to restore his vision. Everything is spotted, slowly fading in. 

“GREAT HERO. HOW YOU HAVE FAILED.”

Cronus thrashes, kicking at the legs of the beast. He hisses and growls, rows of teeth glimmering in the smoky dimness. He lifts his own wand, pressing it against English’s temple. The wand is vibrating now, so desperate to finish the demon off. 

It chuckles darkly, swatting the glowing wand from Cronus’ grasp. He screams, pulling back his hand and socking English in the jaw. It doesn’t do much. Lord English growls, deeper and more menacing than what Cronus could ever muster. Steam pours from his fanged mouth, golden tooth glinting in the light beginning to pour from his gaping maw.

“YOU ACTUALLY THOUGHT. YOU COULD DEFEAT ME. HOW PATHETIC.”

Cronus screams, angry and desperate. Desperate to kill this beast, to complete the prophecy. Desperate to show himself that he was more than just a slave to Meenah. To prove that he wasn’t a joke to his friends. But he had failed. 

He claws at the hand strangling the life out of him, tears joining the blood running down his ruined face. He’s cursing, Beforus and the angelspeak pouring from his sharp mouth. The beast chuckles, smoke joining the steam and vibrant light spilling from between jagged teeth. Heat and pain and obliteration lies behind those teeth. Burning death and destruction. 

“THINK OF THIS. AS YOUR SALVATION.”

The demon roars, twisting eyeballs shaking precariously in its skull as he lets loose a volley of hellfire. 

Cronus burns.

He has failed.

**Author's Note:**

> Cronus was trained to defeat a dark wizard, and many allusions have been made to the Big Green Beast himself.


End file.
